Preparing for Christmas
"Have you ever had a real Christmas tree before?" I asked my roommate, Rachael.
"No. You wanna get one this year?"
We looked at each other and smiled as we started scheming.
I called my dad a few days later. "Can I borrow a saw?" I asked.
"Ummm, yeah. What are you going to do with it?" he asked like every good parent should.
"Well, we want to cut down a Christmas tree for our apartment."
"Where exactly do you plan on doing that?" he replied.
"Any suggestions?"
This time the silence was on his end of the line, and I knew exactly what was coming. "You can't do that! It's illegal!"
With that idea busted, we decided to support our local famers and visit the Christmas tree farm. My new year's resolution this year will probably be to become friends with someone who owns a large piece of property with pine and fir trees all over it.
After selecting the perfect pine and getting it set up in our living room, we began to craft the decorations. We turned Pandora on and listened to a playlist called "up and coming Christmas" as we worked. We laughed as Christmas songs played that we certainly had never heard before. "What kind of Christmas music is this anyway?" I playfully asked. "Sounds like hipster music to me!" Rachael responded. "That's okay. It's kind of appropriate," our friend Justin added as he finished cutting out a paper snowflake and I strung another piece of kettle corn on the popcorn strand. "Too true," we all laughed.
Getting ready for Christmas takes a lot of preparation. Stores get ready for Christmas before Halloween is even over. People spend hours upon hours decorating their houses and setting up light displays in their yards. And then you have to prepare for the shopping and cooking and baking...all for one big day on December 25th.
I thought stringing popcorn on a red thread for two hours was too much work, but people go to much greater extents than that just to prepare for Christmas day.
When I think about the very first Christmas, I am stunned by how little preparations were actually made. No lights were strung, no ornaments hung, no big meal cooked. They could have at least prepared a room, but even that wasn't done for Mary and Joseph when they arrived in Bethlehem that night. They just had a little stable with some animals and hay.
We have made Christmas into such a big deal these days, but Jesus actual birth wasn't really that big of a deal. At the same time, it was a huge deal -- an earth-shaking, world-changing moment. It was not a huge deal because of the extravagant decorations and gifts (there were none), but because of who Jesus was. The long-awaited Messiah, the Savior of the world, the promised Son of God, the Word who became flesh had finally come.
Christmas isn't a huge deal this year because of our real, authentic Christmas tree, our hand-crafted pocorn strings, or our pretty paper snowflakes. It is a huge deal because of Jesus. It's not a big deal because of how good your gifts are, how delicious your meal is, how happy your family is, how gorgeous your house is, or how blessed your life is. It's a huge deal because of Jesus. He came to our world and has come to our hearts - the Savior of us.
I don't want to just prepare my house, but to prepare my heart for Jesus this Christmas season. That's exactly what the Jews didn't do when Jesus was born. They had been long expecting Jesus' birth, but they prepared in the wrong way. They thought the savior would be a strong and mighty king, a political ruler, who would deliver them from the foreigners who ruled over them. Their hearts weren't prepared for a humble savior, a kind and gentle teacher, who would heal the sick, give sight to the blind, and spend his time on the "least of these". They weren't expecting a regular carpenter's son who would die a sinner's death on a cross. And so they missed the whole miracle because of all their religious decorations and preparations.
I love my lighted Christmas pine tree that sits in my living room with popcorn and paper snowflakes all over it. I water it every day and when I do, I ask God to help me to not just prepare my house, but also to prepare my heart for Christmas this year.
I'd like to think that God is going to do something big this year. This Christmas is not just going to come and go while I enjoy the lights, the candy canes, and the hot chocolate for one more year. I want this Christmas to be a spiritual milemarker, a time where I come to know Christ on a deeper level and experience Him in new ways. I think Christmas is going to be something more this year than just enjoying snow days and fires in the fireplace. It's going to be better than that because I have not just prepared my house, but my heart as well.
Lord, take my heart in your hands and prepare it how you see fit. Soften it. Cut down what does not belong and is no longer needed. String up some lights, or fan into flame the light that is already inside of me. Water me daily. Open my heart up and change me from the inside out. May this Christmas not just come and go, but make it count. Help me to remember than it's not about all the stuff associated with our commercialized Christmas. It's all about you, Jesus. Teach me something new about you, and show me more of you.
"No. You wanna get one this year?"
We looked at each other and smiled as we started scheming.
I called my dad a few days later. "Can I borrow a saw?" I asked.
"Ummm, yeah. What are you going to do with it?" he asked like every good parent should.
"Well, we want to cut down a Christmas tree for our apartment."
"Where exactly do you plan on doing that?" he replied.
"Any suggestions?"
This time the silence was on his end of the line, and I knew exactly what was coming. "You can't do that! It's illegal!"
With that idea busted, we decided to support our local famers and visit the Christmas tree farm. My new year's resolution this year will probably be to become friends with someone who owns a large piece of property with pine and fir trees all over it.
After selecting the perfect pine and getting it set up in our living room, we began to craft the decorations. We turned Pandora on and listened to a playlist called "up and coming Christmas" as we worked. We laughed as Christmas songs played that we certainly had never heard before. "What kind of Christmas music is this anyway?" I playfully asked. "Sounds like hipster music to me!" Rachael responded. "That's okay. It's kind of appropriate," our friend Justin added as he finished cutting out a paper snowflake and I strung another piece of kettle corn on the popcorn strand. "Too true," we all laughed.
Getting ready for Christmas takes a lot of preparation. Stores get ready for Christmas before Halloween is even over. People spend hours upon hours decorating their houses and setting up light displays in their yards. And then you have to prepare for the shopping and cooking and baking...all for one big day on December 25th.
I thought stringing popcorn on a red thread for two hours was too much work, but people go to much greater extents than that just to prepare for Christmas day.
When I think about the very first Christmas, I am stunned by how little preparations were actually made. No lights were strung, no ornaments hung, no big meal cooked. They could have at least prepared a room, but even that wasn't done for Mary and Joseph when they arrived in Bethlehem that night. They just had a little stable with some animals and hay.
We have made Christmas into such a big deal these days, but Jesus actual birth wasn't really that big of a deal. At the same time, it was a huge deal -- an earth-shaking, world-changing moment. It was not a huge deal because of the extravagant decorations and gifts (there were none), but because of who Jesus was. The long-awaited Messiah, the Savior of the world, the promised Son of God, the Word who became flesh had finally come.
Christmas isn't a huge deal this year because of our real, authentic Christmas tree, our hand-crafted pocorn strings, or our pretty paper snowflakes. It is a huge deal because of Jesus. It's not a big deal because of how good your gifts are, how delicious your meal is, how happy your family is, how gorgeous your house is, or how blessed your life is. It's a huge deal because of Jesus. He came to our world and has come to our hearts - the Savior of us.
I don't want to just prepare my house, but to prepare my heart for Jesus this Christmas season. That's exactly what the Jews didn't do when Jesus was born. They had been long expecting Jesus' birth, but they prepared in the wrong way. They thought the savior would be a strong and mighty king, a political ruler, who would deliver them from the foreigners who ruled over them. Their hearts weren't prepared for a humble savior, a kind and gentle teacher, who would heal the sick, give sight to the blind, and spend his time on the "least of these". They weren't expecting a regular carpenter's son who would die a sinner's death on a cross. And so they missed the whole miracle because of all their religious decorations and preparations.
I love my lighted Christmas pine tree that sits in my living room with popcorn and paper snowflakes all over it. I water it every day and when I do, I ask God to help me to not just prepare my house, but also to prepare my heart for Christmas this year.
I'd like to think that God is going to do something big this year. This Christmas is not just going to come and go while I enjoy the lights, the candy canes, and the hot chocolate for one more year. I want this Christmas to be a spiritual milemarker, a time where I come to know Christ on a deeper level and experience Him in new ways. I think Christmas is going to be something more this year than just enjoying snow days and fires in the fireplace. It's going to be better than that because I have not just prepared my house, but my heart as well.
Lord, take my heart in your hands and prepare it how you see fit. Soften it. Cut down what does not belong and is no longer needed. String up some lights, or fan into flame the light that is already inside of me. Water me daily. Open my heart up and change me from the inside out. May this Christmas not just come and go, but make it count. Help me to remember than it's not about all the stuff associated with our commercialized Christmas. It's all about you, Jesus. Teach me something new about you, and show me more of you.
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